I agree completely.

All the wanna-be gangstas and hoodlums speaking ebonics and dressing like Tupac and 50-Cent rarely ever get anywhere in life (other than jail), and it is mostly of their own doing.

Similarly, all of the white/hispanic/asian teens that you mention who can't put together a sentence without saying "um, like... you know... and I was like....umm... " at least 3 or 4 times.... they are similarly annoying and moronic... And although probably not as many of them are headed for jail or a violent end per se, they are still handicapping their own futures by choosing to express themselves in such a moronic, uneducated-sounding way.

Mike

Yep.

Cosby is RIGHT ON TARGET, and I'm glad that FINALLY, someone from the black community who is seen as a "celebrity" and "role model" has had the balls to abandon the political-correctness B.S., and actually speak the truth about this issue.

If you find someone stuck in a hole, you can lower them a rope... but you can't make them climb it.

You're right about most of the "black leaders" as well... All of the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons and Louis Farrakahns out there don't really WANT to address the real issue in such a blunt manner... because then they'd be out of work!

They have to make sure that there's ALWAYS a large underclass of "less fortunate, disenfranchised" blacks, so that they can continue to get paid to stand around blaming it on "Whitey", while asking why the government hasn't done more to "fix the problem" (which really means: handing out more taxpayer dollars).

Mike

What is wrong culturally with these urban low income people that they don't want to improve their lot? For crying out loud, they surely know someone who has gotten out of the 'hood and moved to the suburbs. Do they not want their kids to get out? Are they even aware that everyone doesn't live like that? There must be some awareness, as lottery tickets are sold in every confectionary and 7-11 in the city.

I have been stewing about this thread all evening. I don't want this to turn into blindly bashing all black people, but we can't escape the fact that the majority of the faces we saw stranded in NO after the storms were black, low income, urbanites. I assume other people got out while the getting was good and went to Houston or Atlanta to ride out the storm. Locally, in Metro St. Louis, when I watch the news, the vast majority of street shootings and other violence take place in the City, not the suburbs.

There is clearly a problem here. At the heart of the issue is a group of people who have become accustomed to accepting government assistance with no shame. Further, they seemingly have no desire to change that. This group of people refuses to accept personal responsibility for themselves and their dependents. Until someone can break these destructive social patterns, these people will be stuck in slums, with crime, drug sales and abuse, and all of the other problems that made everyone else leave the city and go to the suburbs.

Government can't force someone to better themselves. Jesse Jackson can't, I surely can't. They need to do it themselves. But how?

i agree with a lot of the comments but i have a couple of things to add.

first, the comment about coddling i think is not correct. i dont think the blacks in NO were coddled.

and second the ones that didnt get out when the getting was good i think mostly didnt have the wherewithall to get out. and didnt recognize the fact that they were in such danger. in NO folks have ridden out storm after storm and just never conceived that this one was going to be such a killer.

i think a huge percentage of very poor folks, of all colors, just give up on the system. they believe that things are not ever going to be good for them and that the system wont work for them. and folks like that dont even vote mostly. they just think no matter who wins it wont help them. they feel like life is just kicking them in the teeth and have come to expect that and nothing else.

the speaking proper english is an important point for all colors of folks too. and the gangsta look of baggy clothes and sideways caps is just baffling to me. guys walking around holding their pants up by the crotch for a "look" is just astonishing. i couldnt stand that for a minute. ditto tattoos and mulitilple piercings as well. at least with the piercings they will grow back together if they tire of the look.

tom w

I am not a PC person, I call things like I see them. Now remember most of these "gangster’s" I'm referring to are probably in there early to mid 20's, ie they are adults. Yet they still act like 50 cent wannabe's, I see a pretty sizable percentage at my school. What I don't see is anyone telling them to stop, if anything this behavior is encouraged. No one sits them down and says, that in the real world you can't dress like that in a board room. Not to mention the horrible speech skills, with such skills they will be sweeping the floors regardless of what kind of education they may have.

What also bothers me is most of these people are not "poor" per say. All there clothing is very expensive, I mean I shop at Sac's and spend less on many things. I think most of there money goes to stupid displays of fake wealth like there rap ideals. IE lots of gold, and very pricey cell phones.

I remember last semester in Business Law I shut down one girl. (She was Hispanic if it matters) She was complaining about how she was to poor to buy the $100 book. Everyone was like oh yeah they are so pricey, which they are. But completly giving in to her with there sympathy. Now I notice she has a very expensive looking PDA type phone sitting next to her. I catch her off guard and say that’s a nice phone (it is) and then ask her what something like that costs. I forget but I remember she was paying $120-$150 per month!:eek: Yet she cannot afford a $100 book that will further her education.:rolleyes: I see this mentality all the time, and fail to understand it.

They don't need to improve their lives. They vote for politicians who will force you to improve it for them. Socialism is only a temporary remedy. The only method for free living for all is agency and accountability......untarnished and un-manipulated capitalism is the best device for this. Given proper opportunity, let each be responsible for his own actions. The longer a person is artificially distanced from consequences, that harder the fall will be.

The society which out of cowardice or selfishness turns away from the effervescent decay that this culture creates reaps exponentially what it sows. Since the dawn of sentient human existence man has exploited man for profit. That African-Americans were enslaved to this end in this country is everlastingly shameful; greater still is the ignominy for those who exploit them now for political and personal gain from among their own number.

Who is the slave master now?

Would "hereditary wards of the state"be too pungent a description?

Managing section 8 housing admittedly gives a jaundiced view but brings home with force the old analogy if you put out food for a cat they come to expect it and wail like hell when it is withheld.

I made a noble but futile effort once to train a couple of guys in basic home maintenance,plumbing,electrical,paint & trim but it didn't take and I won't get into the reasons here,I so dislike lighting a match in a hayloft.

Got a Salvadoran fellow smart as a whip,able to diagnose,repair and,most important of all,improvise and think for himself,might be employing him full time as I'm getting sick of fielding calls every time a toilet overflows or an oil burner puffs back blackening{no pun intended}the basement.

Yeow! I hate that the phrase is apt.

Bot

We could go on and on about this all day.

One of my very good friends is black, speaks proper english and carries himself in a decent respectful manner.

He grew up in a single parent household in an impovershed area of Florida.

I always ask him, playfully, "what's up with your cousin's?" Why do they continue to do this silly *****?"

He always shakes his head sadly and cannot give me an answer to why they do what they do, he can only answer why he didn't turn out that way.

"Because my Momma and grandmother wouldn't let me"

Is it that simple? Perhaps.

All he knows is that his mother put herself thru school, became a teacher and refused to be brought down by the ills that have affected so many others.

Three cheers to his mom.:)

.02

Bill Cosby has gotten a lot of grief from certain segments of the black community.

Jesse Jackson, amongst others, has come out insulting Bill Cosby, basically calling him an Uncle Tom.

What goes for blacks also goes for certain elements of the Hispanic community.

They don't bother to learn to write, read and speak English. Why should they, even ballots are printed in Spanish.

They spend years in the morass that ESL education is, instead of doing what generations of immigrants before them have done: work hard, learn the language, assimilate into the culture.

When Bill Cosby created a show about a black family, he was a doctor, his wife was a lawyer and their kids were educated, respectful and on their way to college.

That was a great example for blacks and other minorities to emulate.

When George Lopez creates a show, his mother is a drunk chola, his daughter is a slut and his best friend, Ernie, can't string two sentences together w/o reverting to Barrio-talk. His show may be hugely successful, but to educated Hispanics all over the country the show is an embarrassment (yes, I know, George Lopez has made tons of money, but so what).

(At least he got the Cuban part of the show right. His wife in the show is supposed to be Cuban and her father is a doctor. But in the show George Lopes continually mocks his father in law for being uppity, as if being educated is a sin.)

Bill Cosby is right on target. As long as minorities keep blaming "Mr. Whitey" and "Senor Gringo" for their failings, they will never be anything more than bathroom attendants and car wash jockeys.

Plantman, make that "some" Cubans.

I was born in Cuba and my wife was born in Mexico. Which makes our kids CAMs :D

None of my kids has ever wore those kinds of get-ups. And none of my kids has ever spoken ghetto or barrio talk.

My wife and I have spent the time and have made the effort to make sure that our kids make it in society. That includes a proper upbringing and leading by example.

It is all a matter of education, upbringing and parenting.

I agree with you 100%.

In one of Jeff Foxworthy's routines about rednecks he asks the audience if they want their heart or brain surgeon to speak like "this" (and then he starts speaking "redneck").

It is bad enough when kids do Valley Talk.

But when adults, who should know better, do it I want to pull my hairs out.

Someday your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren will thank you for what you have done, whether they know it was you or not.

B

I hope so.

I see it as one generation building upon the legacy of the previous one.